Rotatable trigger guard for firearms



Sept. 16, 1952 A c. A. MOORE ROTATABLE TRIGGER GUARD FOR FIREARMS Filed May 5, 1949 grwwwtm l 1*11 A 111 1:: El 1 E Patented Sept. 16, 1952 iris ear rric EOTATABLE TRIGGER GUARD FOR FIREARMS Gyril A. Moore, Springfield, Mass, assignor tozthe United States of America as Secretary of War represented by the Application May 5, 1949, Serial No. 91,619

' s Claims. (on. 42-69) (Granted under the act of March 3, 1883, as

The invention described in the specification and claims may be used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.

This inventionrelates to a trigger guard for a, firearm and more particularly to a collapsible type of construction wherein the guard can be rotated laterally out of the vertical plane of trigger movement.

The wearing of heavyfingerless mittens in ex treme cold weather introduces considerable difficulty in the operation of those firearms which have conventional fixed type trigger guards. In resorting to the .obvious solution of increasing the size of the guard, it has been found that the protection against accidental pulling of the trigger has been significantly decreased. On the other hand, the use of auxiliary trigger attachments connected to the trigger invariably requires additional parts or at best repositioning of existing parts. As a result, the optimum of gun design can not be satisfactorily achieved.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a firearm with a novel trigger guard capable of 90 degree lateral rotation about either side of a conventional triggerprotecting position. g V U l.

The specific nature of the invention as well as other objects and advantages thereof will clearly appear from a description of a preferred embodiment as shown in the accompany drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view partly in cross-section showing the trigger guard construction of this invention.

Fig. 2 is a front end view showing the trigger guard in one of its rotated positions.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the locking arrangement in the disengaged position.

Fig. 4 is a front View of the locking member.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary View showing that portion of the trigger guard which is arranged to be secured by the locking member of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a front view of the front trigger guard bracket.

Fig. '7 is a side elevational view of an alternate method of securing the trigger guard in its conventional trigger protecting position.

Fig. 8 is a front elevational view showing in more detail the locking arrangement of Fig. 7.

There is illustrated in Fig. l a trigger guard 5 of conventional contour, a trigger 6, and a channel-shaped trigger plate 1 arranged to be suitashown). ,A rectangular slot ill is provided in amended April 30, 1928; 370 0.6. 757) '2 plate l and the finger engaging portion of trigger 5 extends therethrough. Right angled brackets 8 and 9 aresuitably secured to the bottom of trigger plate 7 and lie in opposed relationship.

Trigger guard 5 is rotatably secured between brackets 8 and 9 by means of a pin i l at the rear end and a lock member H2 at the front end. Lock l2 consists of a head portion l3 and a pin-like shank i4 having a D-shaped oross-section arranged to extend through a hole is in the front end of trigger guard 5 and through a hole 25 in front bracket 8 Hole 25 is also D shaped as shown in Fig. 6 and consequently lock member 12 is thereby prevented from rotating in front bracket 8. The free end of shank id is threaded to receive a cap which is counterbored as shown at Hi. A coil spring i! is arranged to surround shank it and be, compressed between the front face of front brackets and the shoulders formed by counterbore it. The front end of trigger guard 5 is enlarged as shown at 26 in Fig. 5 tocorrespond with the contour of head l3 of lock member l2 andis provided with a plurality of diametrically aligned holes l9 arranged to mate with a pair of diametrically opposed studs i8 on the inner face of head l3 when the parts are assembled as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The bias of spring H maintains studs E8 in engagement with holes i9. V

.Whenfit is desired to rotate tri ger guard 5 out'of its conventional trigger protecting position, it is merely necessary to pull or push locking member 52 rearwardly and sufficiently to disengage studs i8 from holes 59 and then rotate trigger guard 5 laterally with respect to the longitudinal axis of trigger plate i. no longer align with studs l8, locking member it may be released. When holes it are once again aligned with studs it, the bias of spring l1 automatically effects engagement and thereby locks trigger guard 5 in a trigger exposing position. During rotation of trigger guard 5, the engagement of shank M with hole 25 as described above prevents rotation of locking member is.

An alternate method of looking a trigger guard 28 in any of its aforementioned positions is illus trated in Figs. 7 and 8. Although one end only of trigger guard 28 is shown in the drawing, it is to be understood that the construction about to be described applies equally tothe other end. Bracket 2! is similar in all respects to the previously mentioned brackets 8 and 9 except that intersecting grooves 26] are out into the outer face of the downwardly extendin section. Trigger guard 28 is here rotatably secured to When holes iii acreage bracket 21 by a pin 2|. A flat spring 2-: having 'is reached where it engages one of the horizontal grooves 20. Thereupon, the resiliency of. flat spring 22 biases detent into engagement with groove 20 and trigger guard 28 is thus secured in any of the positions corresponding to the cations of grooves 20. Again, although here shown as two grooves intersecting at right angles,

of, means including a locking member for releasably securing said'triggerguard between said it is within the intent of this invention to pro- 1 vide a plurality of grooves intersecting at various I angles so that the trigger guard may be secured in any position within a 180 degree are of rotation. f 7

Thus, there is: here provided a simple yet'positive means for rotating a trigger guard out of the way of a trigger so that such trigger may be easily manipulated by an operator wearing heavy fingerless mittens. The construction of the arts is such that inexpensive methods of manufacture, such as stamping, maybe-readily employed.

' I claim: I

1. Ina trigger guard construction for firearms, a trigger guard having upstanding opposite ends, one of said ends having; a plurality of radially disposed holes, means including a locking member for selectively securing said trigger guard to the firearm in one of a plurality of laterall'yfrotated positions, said locking member having at least one projecting stud, resilient means operaaxis of the firearm.

2. In a trigger guard construction for firearms, a trigger guard havingupst'anding opposite ends, one of said ends having a plurality of diairie'tri cally opposed holes, a pairof op osed right angle brackets fixedly secured to the underside of the firearm, one of said brackets having a D shaped hole in the downwardly extendingportiontherebrackets, said locking member having a head portion and a shank portion of D-shaped cross-.- section. a pair or projecting studs on said locking member head portion, a cap threadably secured to the free end of said shank portion, and resilient means v in said cap member arranged to bias said lock member whereby said projecting studs engage with said trigger guard holes when aligned therewith, said locking member shank portion cooperating with said bracket D-shaped hole to prevent rotation of said locking member when said, trigger guard is rotated laterally with respect'to the longitudinal axis of the firearm.

-3. lIna trigger guard construction for firearms, a pair of brackets fixedly secured at one end thereof to the firearm, each of said brackets having a downwardly extending portion in opposed relationship to one another, a trigger guard having opposite upstanding end portions-releasably secured between said downwardly extending bracket portions, said trigger guard being thereby mounted for lateral rotation with respect to thelongitudinal axis of the firearm, each of said downwardly extending bracket portions having a plurality of grooves on the exposed face thereof radially disposed to define an arc of at least a flat spring fixedly secured to said upstanding end portions oi. said trigger guard, and detent means on each oi said flat springs arranged for engagement with one of said bracket grooves when aligned therewith, all adapted and arranged whereby said trigger guard is releasably retained in a-positio'n corresponding to the locatioriof said particular groove engaged by said detent.

CYRIL A. MOORE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references. are of record in the 'file of this patent:-

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 965,380 Hansen July 26,1910 978,415 Wesson 'Dec. 13, 1910 2,401,482 Hendey June 4, 1946 2,461,574 Skinner et al Feb. 15, 1949 2,476,904 Perry July 19, 1949 

